Vitalis Memoria
by The Second Coming
Summary: When Kagome comes across a familiar object on display in a museum her life suddenly becomes far more complicated than she'd ever expected. A collection of drabbles written for Dokuga Contest on LJ .
1. In Memoriam

**Words: **300

**Prompt: **Echo

**Disclaimer: **I do not own, nor claim to own, Inuyasha. The characters and the property of Rumiko Takahashi, and I am making no money from this story.

**Notes: **Originally written on 26 Jan 2009 for the weekly perfection prompt 'echo' at dokuga_contest on LJ. 'In Memoriam' means 'in memory' in Latin, and the title of this collection, 'Vitalis Memoria' means 'living memory' (also in Latin).

--

She rested her fingers on the dispassionate kanji carved into the small metal plaque that was the only decoration on the otherwise unadorned case. It was tucked away, amid dozens of other swords, its power as unassuming as it had been when she'd first seen it strapped to his hip.

But there was no denying it.

_Tenseiga; Fang of Heaven, c. 1500, _read the small label dispassionately. It said nothing of the one whose fang had been used to create it, nor the one who had borne it all those years ago.

She spread her fingers against the cool glass, pressing her palm to it as if trying to touch the sword could feel its pull, almost magnetic, as it stirred.

Her eyes widened and she gasped, stepping back in alarm.

_It can't be, _her mind insisted, _but it's almost as if it... _knows _me_.

As if in answer she felt a thrum of power from the sword, and she felt her own _miko_ powers respond. She closed her eyes allowing Tenseiga's healing aura to wash over her. She felt it run over her skin, tingling slightly as it invigorated her.

She heard a low growl and her eyes snapped open. "Sesshoumaru-sama?" she asked softly, her voice echoing in the quiet room.

She sighed, uncertain why she was so disappointed. After all, she didn't really want to see him after all this time, did she? Certainly not _him_ of all people.

Still, she couldn't deny that his presence still lingered in Tenseiga -- and Tenseiga had inexplicably reached out to her. It was bizarrely comforting.

"Are you coming, Kagome?" Yuka yelled from across the gallery, shattering the silence abruptly.

"Yes," she replied softly, tearing herself away from the sword regretfully. "Goodbye, Sesshoumaru-sama," she said gently.


	2. Spiritus Mundi

**Words: **100

**Prompt: **Blind

**Notes: **Originally written on 31 Jan 2009 for the weekly perfection prompt 'blind' at dokuga_contest on LJ.'Spiritus Mundi' is Latin, and it means 'spirit of the world'.

--

He felt something brush against him. It was a strange sensation, an almost intangible feeling of fingers brushing against an empty sleeve. He stirred, wrestling with his sleepy mind, fighting the foggy sluggishness that pervaded his thoughts. He felt and saw nothing -- where and who he was lay beyond his capacity to understand.

Phantom fingers skittered across his skin, the harbringers of a familiar presence.

_Her._ Somewhere in the back of his bleary mind a feeling connected with a word, and he felt his power surge, straining against its contraints for the first time in over two centuries.

Sesshoumaru had awoken.


	3. E Pluribus, Unum

**Words: **300

**Prompt: **Pierce

**Notes: **Originally written on 10 March 2009 for the weekly perfection prompt 'pierce' at dokuga_contest on LJ. 'E Pluribus, Unum' is Latin for 'from many, one'.

--

She stood, clad only in her pyjamas and muddy bunny slippers, shivering with the cold. The large, dark doors to the museum were closed before her. She couldn't clearly recall walking all the way there, and that terrified her more than anything.

Her heart raced, and, from somewhere deep within the building, a matching thrum answered her beat for beat. She felt her stomach twist in fear, and she clutched her shaking hands closer to her body, falling roughly to her knees.

The sound of breaking glass made her jump and let out a screech of fear, and she instinctively raised her arms above her head, protecting herself from the shower of glass that rained down on her. She let out a cry as a piece nicked her arm, and she felt the warm stickiness of blood against her skin.

All concern about her arm vanished, however, when she caught a glint of quickly moving steel and Tenseiga embedded itself firmly in her chest.

_I'm dead_, she thought hysterically, looking down at the sword sticking out between her ribs.

And then she felt _it_... A small tingle in the back of her mind that let Kagome know she was no longer alone.

Tenseiga gave a contented thrum, and she felt it in her bones, resonating within every fibre of her being. _Whole_.

_Could it be... Kikyou?_ Her eyes widened in surprise. She felt _whole_ again, like she was in possession of a complete soul. But that was impossible -- how could Kikyou's soul, _her soul_, have come to her here, and now? And what did Tenseiga have to do with it?

She stilled suddenly, fear trickling like cold water down her spine, as she heard a low, familiar voice echo quietly in the back of her mind. _"Guess again, Miko..."_

_Sesshoumaru?!_


	4. Dichotomia

**Words:** 430

**Prompt:** Spare

**Notes:** Originally written on 22 Mar 2009 for the weekly perfection prompt 'spare' at dokuga_contest on LJ. 'Dichotomia' means dichotomy in Latin.

--

She felt him stirring inside of her, the dark tendrils of his mind reaching out and grasping, like clawed, bony hands, grabbing her mind and sinking in, taking hold. She shivered, her body rejecting this foreign presence. Sweat began to bead on her skin as her stomach churned dangerously.

Distantly she heard a car speeding down a street, its tires screeching in the quiet night.

_What was that?!_ Sesshoumaru snapped loudly in her mind, his voice tinged with uncharacteristic panic.

_Car_, she thought back thickly, doubling forwards and clutching her injured arm to herself.

_Where am I?_

She didn't reply, staggering instead to her feet. Tenseiga glinted under the pale yellow light of the street lamps, and with shaking hands she removed the blade from her chest. It left no mark, no indication of what had happened, but it thrummed with a happy pulse as she held it in her hand, matching her own heartbeat pulse for pulse.

_What is this place, Miko?_

She groaned, staggering forward and using Tenseiga as a crutch, walking in the direction of home and trying in vain to block out his irritating presence in her mind. Her soul still felt complete, and her spiritual powers lay unlocked, shimmering beneath the pale surface of her skin, waiting...

But he... he was not of her, and her body knew it. She had never felt this ill before, and she certainly never wanted to again. Every fibre of her being seemed to want him expelled, except her soul, which had latched onto him with a temerity that frightened her. He was tearing her apart from the inside - and, rather rudely, he hadn't seemed to have noticed.

She felt the icy touch of his consciousness on her mind, and she saw in her minds eye the image of the well as it had been the fateful day she was pulled down it. The image flickered as he flipped through her memories, not unlike one might flip through a picture book, and visions of her past flashed before her eyes. Miroku opening the wind tunnel, Sango crying, Inuyasha rescuing her from the Noh mask, Inuyasha saying he liked the way she smelled, Inuyasha and Kikyou...

_Stop it!_ she screamed, clamping down hard on her thoughts and shoving him from her mind.

She felt him release her memories, sparing her for now, and she breathed a shaky sigh of relief.


	5. Mens et Corpus

**Words:** 200

**Prompt:** Mingle

**Notes:** Originally written on 4 Aug 2009 for the weekly perfection prompt 'mingle' at dokuga_contest on LJ. 'Mens et Corpus' means 'body and mind' in Latin.

--

He was there. Lurking, like a spectre, in the back of her mind.

_Home_.

The moment the word crossed her mind she felt him come to attention, the tendrils of his consciousness mingling with her own as he impressed his presence upon her mind. Her stomach clenched with fear. The moment she'd thought of home, she knew that he had seen it too.

_You will take me to the well._

She staggered, feeling as if she were going to be sick any moment. A car slowed along the side of the road, the driver rolling down the window and calling out to her. His voice was distant, like she was hearing him through a thick haze.

"Miss? Miss? Are you alright, miss?"

She felt the icy clutch of his being grab hold of her body, and she felt herself turn around and snarl savagely at the man. He backed up a step, and then another. Sesshoumaru guided her body forwards, and she felt a power that wasn't her own rise to the surface, rubbing against her spiritual powers with a painful friction.

The man ran, stumbling into his car and drove away with a squeal of tires into the night.


End file.
